Position of the Month: Open Guard

Open guard has many applications: here it is being used to send Can flying through the air

Having covered closed and half guard, we are now moving on to what is the third and most varied type, open guard. In closed guard, your legs are around the waist of your opponent, while in half you’ve captured one of their legs. Eventually, you will find that your opponent has been able to disengage your legs: that’s where open guard comes in.

With open guard, you do not necessarily start out attached to your opponent: your legs and arms can be in a vast number of different configurations, which results in countless open guard sub-types. Some of them involve grips on the legs, others manipulate the gi, some rely on hooking with the feet.

This month, we will be focusing on some of the more common sub-types of open guard. Can will be starting off with some basic advice on approaching open guard, while Dónal kicked things off at Impact Gym yesterday with de la Riva guard. That’s one of the most popular open guard positions, where one leg is wrapped around the outside of your partner’s leg, hooking the inside with your foot.

We look forward to helping you navigate the complex terrain of open guard!